Israelis love technology. They are early adapters, and relentless innovators, always looking for ways to improve their lives in every possible area.

With the country's talent for development, it's so surprise that some of the world's top gadgets were designed and developed in Israel. We've put together 10 of the best.

1. DiskOnKey [photo]Dov Moran, founder of Modu, previously hit the big time with his company M-Systems, which developed the very first DiskOnKey (or DiskOnChip as M-Systems originally dubbed it). The concept is simple enough: Jam up to 64 gigabytes of data onto a tiny gadget no larger than a house key. The latest versions actually look like a key and can hook onto your keychain. DiskOnKeys were part of the "one-two sucker punch" that killed the venerable floppy disk (the other being cheap recordable CD-ROMs and later DVDs). Aside from being a reliable way to transfer data from computer to computer, disk-on-keys are now finding new life, expanding the storage space of the latest portable craze, the NetBook.

In 2005, PC World named the DiskOnKey one of the world's top 10 gadgets in the last 50 years. In 2006, international powerhouse SanDisk purchased M-Systems for $1.6 billion.Lire l'intégralité de l'article » (article de Brian Blum @ ISRAEL21c)

samedi 21 novembre 2009

Israel's in fourth in global scientific activity, ranking just behind Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark for the number of scientific publications per citizen, according to a report presented at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan on Monday.

Based on figures from 2005, the report, which was compiled by the Council for Higher Education, also shows that in that year alone, Israeli scientists and researchers published 6,309 essays and articles in foreign scientific journals. According to those figures, nearly 1 percent (.089%) of all scientific publications in 2005 came from Israel. [...] Additionally, citations of Israeli publications by other scientists were extremely high. According to the report, Israel Institute of Technology-Technion professor Avram Hershko, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2004, published 148 articles and was cited more than 16,000 times.

Finland, the Netherlands and Canada followed Israel in the report, while the United States placed 12th, and Germany placed 15th. Japan, Britain and Russia also fell behind Israel.

Israel's role in global scientific activity is nearly 10 times the size of its percentage of the world's population, the report shows. Lire l'intégralité de l'article » (article de Abe Selig @ The Jerusalem Post)

vendredi 20 novembre 2009

Ongoing research at an Israeli university may lead to vaccines that can teach our immune systems to better fight Alzheimer's disease. An Israeli researcher who is working on a vaccine for Alzheimer's has discovered that it is possible to test and measure specific immune responses in mice carrying human genes and to anticipate the immune response in Alzheimer's patients.

The research at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) could lead one day to specific Alzheimer's vaccines that reduce plaque, neuronal damage and inflammation associated with the disease. Today around 5.3 million people in the US alone suffer from Alzheimer's, a debilitating and progressive disease that destroys the brain cells causing memory loss, according to the Alzheimer's Association. It is a fatal disease, and is the seventh leading cause of death in the US.

Amyloid beta-peptide accumulates in the brain of Alzheimer's patients where it appears to promote neuronal damage. In an article, recently published in the Journal of Immunology, BGU researcher Dr. Alon Monsonego [photo] determined that introducing A-beta into the brain triggers a natural immune response that can be detected in humans.Lire l'intégralité de l'article »(Israel21c)

Gold nanoparticles and laser beams will be researched as a new non-invasive treatment for cancer at a Technion-Israel Institute for Technology lab financed with €2 million from the European Union and a large previous donation from philanthropist Lorry Lokey of San Francisco. The potential treatment is meant to have minimal side effects and low toxicity to healthy cells near the tumor.

The Technion's faculty of biomedicine in Haifa opened the lab last week. Thanks to Lokey's $30m. donation in 2006, the Technion established the Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering, headed by Nobel Prize laureate Prof. Aaron Ciechanover. This multidisciplinary lab includes researchers from physics, optics, biology, biomedicine and nanotechnology. This innovative treatment is arousing great interest here and around the world, and now the research has been awarded two significant grants - €2m. from the EU and $1m. from the Israel Science Foundation. Dr. Dvir Yelin from the biomedicine faculty is developing technology that makes it possible to wipe out cancer cells in a very selective, non-toxic manner. Gold nanoparticles with very low toxicity reach the tumor.Lire l'intégralité de l'article » (article de Judy Siegel-Itzkovich @ The Jerusalem Post)

A team at Jerusalem's Hadassah University Medical Center has managed for the first time in the world to separate platelets and adult stem cells from the blood and bone marrow of patients with fractures and inject them - causing the bones to meld in a quarter to third of the time it usually takes to repair bones, and repairing some breaks that without the therapy would fail to heal at all.

Prof. Meir Liebergall, chairman of the orthopedics department on the Ein Kerem campus, gene therapy expert Prof. Eithan Galun and colleagues worked for years on the technique, which he said involves a "breakthrough in concept and overcomes major scientific and logistical problems." All seven of those who received the experimental cell-based therapy have seen the broken tibias in their legs heal, even though the fractured bone in at least one control group patient who received only conventional treatment of screws or bone grafts failed to meld. Instead of taking six to nine months to heal, the fractures treated with adult stem cells and platelets healed in two months.Lire l'intégralité de l'article » (article de Judy Siegel-Itzkovich @ The Jerusalem Post)

mardi 3 novembre 2009

Argo Medical Technologies, of the ProSeed group, has raised $3.1 million in an internal round, ProSeed said in an announcement to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The participants in the round, besides ProSeed itself, were TechnionSeed (formerly the Technion Incubator), and the Vitalife fund.Argo Medical has developed an alternative to wheelchairs for people with disabilities in their lower limbs, enabling them to stand and walk. It consists of a system that moves the legs in accordance with information received from movements of the upper body. The result is similar to walking with crutches.The company was founded by Amit Goffer, who was among the founders of Odin Medical Technologies, which was sold to Medtronic. Like those for whom Argo's technology in intended, Goffer himself is paralyzed in the lower half of his body, following an accident.Argo's product, ReWalk, is reaching the end of the trials stage, and the company believes it will be ready for use in 2010.Source: article by Gali Weinreb @ Globes Anti Boycott Israel blog: handicaps moteurs

lundi 2 novembre 2009

Photo by Chen Leopold/Flash90: Solel Solar's parabolic solar collector in Beit Shemesh. The company manufactures solar collectors for solar fields all over the world.

They're on investors' hit lists and the green tech media is keen to monitor their progress. Environmentalists and key policy makers from the United States urge them on. Israeli solar technology innovators are channelling and shaping the sun's energy and breaking America's dependence on oil. With organizations like the Cleantech Forum, an international business development firm that's listing Israel in a league of its own, world rankings show that Israel is no small player in solar energy innovation. A recent survey released by the Guardian newspaper in the UK and the Cleantech Forum chose five Israeli-based and two Israeli-developed companies among a global listing of 100. That's a significant number, considering that Israel is about the size of a small American state. Over the years ISRAEL21c has brought you many reports about home-grown Israeli solar energy technologies that are making our world a better place. We'd like to present you with a summary of seven of our favorites:

BrightSource Energy (formerly Luz) is building solar power plants for utility and industrial companies around the globe. Combining decades of experience in designing, building and operating some of the world's largest solar power plants, BrightSource is contracted to generate 2.6 gigawatts of power using its solar thermal technology. BrightSource and Southern California Edison signed the world's largest solar energy deal in February this year. Founded by Arnold J. Goldman, the company's mission is to minimize its impact on the environment and to help customers reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. With more than $160 million in financing, key investors and clients include Google, PG&E, Chevron, Morgan Stanley and Vantage Point Venture Partners.

ZenithSolar develops solar energy power plants based on the technology of Prof. David Faimon of Ben Gurion University in the Negev. The core technology is a large optical dish upon which multiple flat mirrors are mounted. The company says that the system will harvest more than 70 percent of incoming solar energy (compared to industry averages of 10% to 40%). ZenithSolar already has a solar farm on Kibbutz Yavne that is supplying energy and hot water to 250 families. Investors include private business people from the US and Israel.

AORA(formerly EDIG) has based its technology on the shape of a flower. Alarmingly beautiful, the company focuses heliostats into the "petals" of its massive solar collector, which was revealed recently at the pilot plant in Israel's Negev Desert. The world's first solar thermal gas-turbine power station is based on the research of Prof. Jacob Karni, director of the Center for Energy Research at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, and has been funded by EZ Klein.

Tigo Energyaims to take a stab at squeezing more power from existing power plants. The company has developed a box that renders these plants more efficient. Tigo Energy's technology includes a real-time, always on monitoring system that it has devised so that power plant operators can receive constant updates on the performance of individual photovoltaic panels. Investors include Matrix Partners, OVP Venture Partners, and the IDB Group. Sales of the Maximizer technology are expected to begin within the next few months.

Solel Solar is one of Israel's most talked about solar energy companies, up there with BrightSource and ZenithSolar. Building solar thermal power plants in Spain and the US, Solel has invested 14 years' worth of R&D to improve the annual electrical output of solar fields. German electronics giant Siemens has just purchased Solel for $418 million. It is currently building plants in Spain, and a 553-megawatt project, the Mojave Solar Park 1, in California's Mojave Desert. Major investors and clients include PG&E, Ecofin and private Belgian investors.

Di.S.P. Distributed Solar Power holds promise for industrial rooftops. Based on the technology of Prof. Avi Kribus from Tel Aviv University, the DiSP solar collectors are small, but pack a lot of punch. According to their estimates, they will be able to collect up to 75% of the sun's power and convert it to electricity. The technology is novel because it combines both a micro-sized solar concentrator and a heat transfer system, meaning that the sunlight can be used to heat water thermally, while also providing electricity to turn on your air con. In 2006, ISRAEL21c featured DiSP as the first in a series of articles about alternative energy solutions from Israel.

Enstorage : Based on the research of Prof. Emanuel Peled at Tel Aviv University, Enstorage develops low-cost energy storage systems for solar and wind powered plants. While the way the sun shines throughout the day is variable, Enstorage's technology helps generate an even flow transmission back to the grid. Current investors include Siemens, Wellington Partners, Canaan Partners and Greylock Partners.Source: article by Karin Kloosterman @ ISRAEL 21c

Micromedic: We will begin a larger trial at several medical centers in Israel and the US.

Micromedic Technologies Ltd. (TASE:MCTC) reports 90% sensitivity in a trial for its diagnostic biomarker kit for breast and ovarian cancer. The kit was developed at Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem by a team headed by Dr. Asher Salmon. Micromedic said that, in view of the results, it would begin a larger trial at several medical centers in Israel and the US.Source: article de Gali Weinreb @ Globes Anti Boycott Israel Blog: cancer du sein